


Unrepentantly Red

by sleepismyfriend



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Fix-It, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 00:40:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11817600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepismyfriend/pseuds/sleepismyfriend
Summary: The brilliant purple beam that Leia recognizes from training with Luke years ago is gone, and a red glow resides in its place.





	Unrepentantly Red

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WeiszArse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeiszArse/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [WeiszArse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeiszArse/pseuds/WeiszArse) in the [opisummerchallenge](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/opisummerchallenge) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> OPI: Unrepentantly Red

As the red glow of the lightsaber cuts through Han's abdomen, the pressure of his son's weapon builds in waves. Han's knees don't hold long, bending downward, and he expects to hit the steel grating under his boots at any moment.

What Han doesn't expect is the lightsaber being pulled back and tossed down, as a pair of arms encircle him, and he is lowered to the walkway.

"I couldn't hold it off any longer," Ben says, tears fading down one cheek. 

"It's okay, kid," Han says, his voice cracking under the pain. He wants to reach for his son, touching the face he has memorized time and time again but the pain, the pain continues to radiate in all the places he doesn’t expect.

Ben closes his eyes, a familiar crinkle appearing, as his gloved palm hovers above Han's chest. A yellow glow emanates from it, filling Han’s chest with undue warmth.

Ben bites down on his lower lip, and Han's eyes widen. He can feel bits and pieces of raw energy stitching his abdomen back and forth together in a tight weave. In a muffled whisper, Ben says, "I'm sorry."

He lets go of Han, securing his lightsaber to his belt before fleeing down the opposite end of the walkway. Han sees his mask, the forgotten headpiece of forged steel sitting too close to him for his liking.

Han doesn't have but two sharp breaths before he hears Chewie and the others’ footsteps come running towards him. 

"Han? Han, are you alright?" Rey's voice is first, as she comes into view. Her hands ghost his chest and stomach as her eyes scan him, but she don't touch.

Chewie roars.

"Easy pal, easy," Han says, one arm protecting his abdomen. Ben’s been gone for minutes now, and he swears he can feel his son’s hand still hovering over his chest. 

"We need to get out of here," Finn says, looking to Rey. "This planet is going to cave in around us."

"You don’t have to tell me twice," Han says, and before either Rey or Finn can move, Chewie moves. He lifts Han up like a mother to a child, cradling the older man with an emphasized tightness that Han will berate him for later.

The Falcon’s rumbling hyperdrive kicks in before Han gives his son another thought.

—

As her knees fail her, Leia feels the loss of Han so acutely that it _burns_. Her chest heaves with undue pressure, the air around her thick and unmanageable. This is the end, she is sure of it. The Force has never felt more apparent than now.

Leia closes her eyes, finding that dark place that Luke used to coach her into trying to force her to process her grief. She hasn’t felt this particular place so strongly in quite a while, not since the loss of Alderaan and then the loss of her son. The dark place is vast, carrying an emptiness that she has only ever been able to tolerate.

 _"Focus, Leia, focus."_ A warm yet strong voice she doesn't recognize and has never known speaks, and Leia inhales at sense that Anakin Skywalker before Darth Vader is somehow with her.

 _"It doesn't matter,"_ Ben says, his voice trailing Anakin's. _"She’ll never defeat me."_  

 _"Han's death is only one branch of a very long tree. When one branch falls, another grows in its place,"_ Anakin says.

"Not hardly," Leia says, softly through gritted teeth, so no one thinks their General is talking to herself. "Trees grow and then they die." 

_"But, trees may grow anywhere. The Force is in all living things. It knows what must stay and what must go,"_ Anakin says.

 _"Face it, Mother, face the truths that you've feared your whole life."_ Her son's voice carries her feet through the corridors towards her quarters. She doesn't bother answering, feeling her son's smirk at the back of her head, as she presses the chime, and enters her quarters. 

There's a lockbox tucked away in the wall, one she asked Dameron to discreetly procure some time ago. She taps the combination with ease before turning to place it on the thinly covered bed. She then reaches for her bag, pulling the lone cloak she never expected to use on this mission from it, and slipping it on.

 _"Don't do this, Leia,"_ Anakin warns, as the balanced grip of Corelian wood and etched Coruscant metal containing the sigils of the Royal Family of Alderaan rests in one hand. _"You know what this will do. You have a chance I never had, don't waste it, Leia, please, listen to me—"_

Leia snaps the kyber crystal into place, and the lightsaber flickers to life. The brilliant purple beam that Leia recognizes from training with Luke years ago is gone, and a red glow resides in its place. 

She secures the lightsaber to her belt before she leaves.


End file.
